Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a frequent problem in the treatment of disease caused by several clinical bacterial pathogens. In the European Union, antibiotic-resistant infections kill nearly 25,000 patients and represent a total expenditure of £1.5 billion per year. In response, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the United Kingdom termed antibiotic resistance “a major area of concern” and proposed its inclusion on the National Security Risk Assessment, which prioritises major disruptive risks to national security. Furthermore, the CMO suggested that the UK government facilitate global action, especially concerning the development of novel antibiotics. However, given the expensive research, development and clinical testing required to bring an antibiotic to market, coupled with the fact that they are taken for limited time courses and not for life, makes them a very unattractive prospect for pharmaceutical companies.
This PhD project in the research group of Dr Roger Draheim is responsible for implementation of a novel “biological antibiotic screening” platform within the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Portsmouth. The overall aim of this project is to develop this screening technology in order to sharply reduce the economic cost required for antibiotic discovery to the point where it becomes adopted as the de facto standard within the pharmaceutical industry. This multidisciplinary project will be conducted within newly renovated laboratory space and spans a broad range of biological sciences including, but not limited to: molecular biology, microbiology, synthetic biology, biochemistry, high-throughput screening and collection/management of large data sets (i.e. big data). Applicants should therefore ideally have previous experience in one or more of these areas, although they will receive training in all relevant areas.
In addition, students will have access to a vast number of training resources available at through the Graduate School at the University of Portsmouth including those geared toward improving presentation skills, time-management and project organisation skills, reviewing literature, thesis writing, data analysis and statistics, and other various related training modules.
Portsmouth is a vibrant waterfront city with fast train connections to central London and its five airports. In addition, the city also possesses ferry service to France, Spain and the Channel Islands. Portsmouth possesses miles of easily accessible beach, and vast amounts of water-side open green space. Here is a little more info about the city of Portsmouth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3y4byWrgr4
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